Related Articles

Despise horrible meetings and office awkwardness? So do I! So much that I created a whole SlideShare presentation about it! I live and breathe by these 10 meeting productivity hacks, so hopefully they will help you stop torturing your meeting attendees and start hosting meetings that are engaging, boost productivity, drive innovation and transform “meet” into the most powerful, awe-inspiring four-letter word you’ll use today.

Stand-up Meeting: Keep it short and sweet by keeping them on their feet. Perfect for quick updates, morning round-ups and project updates.

One Topic: Sick of having meeting after meeting and nothing ever gets done? Throw out the long, complicated agenda and focus on completing ONE THING.

Offline “Meeting:” Ditch real-time meetings (especially when you keep going back and forth on availability), and use a team workspace for quick chat or project updates, hosted within a set start and end time.

Record and Play: If you’re disseminating info, not collaborating, simply record your message and email the video to those who need to know. That way, you’re not killing 30 minutes of their productive time and they can get the update when it works best for their schedules.

Rule of Sixths: Divide meeting time into sixths—

1/6th for new agenda item 1

1/6th for new agenda item 2

1/6th for new agenda item 3

1/6th for past agenda item update 1

1/6th for past agenda item update 2

1/6th for assigning action items

Question Book: Attendees add questions to a notebook before the meeting. The meeting host then takes 10 minutes reading the questions off and then answering them in the meeting, saving productivity time by removing redundant or non-applicable questions.

Get Out: Refuse to meet in the same old stale conference room over and over and over again. Exit the premises. Immediately. No, seriously. New perspectives lead to new ideas and that warm fuzzy feeling team bonding brings.

Can’t get enough meeting productivity hacks and office etiquette advice? Neither can we! We love meetings and teamwork so much we wrote a whole book about them. Get it free here: http://bit.ly/etiquettehandbook.